CIS tax increase accounts for 12% of tax rises announced in recent pre-Budget report

Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers from Eastern Europe are set to be hit by a stealth tax buried in Chancellor Gordon Brown’s pre-Budget report, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

Within the pre-Budget Report is a line about a surprise change to the way contractors under CIS will pay tax which will raise £250m for the Treasury in 2006-2007.

Brown has raised the amount companies are obliged to pay from 18% to 20% from pay.

It was not mentioned in the Brown’s pre-Budget speech, despite the fact it accounts for 12% of the £2bn of tax rises outlined in last week’s report.

The Sunday Telegraph quotes Anita Monteith, from the tax faculty at the Institute of Chartered Accountants as saying: “many people end up paying too much to the CIS and have to wait months for their rebate."

“The fear is that many Eastern Europeans will leave the UK and never receive their rebate.”